Chemical ornaments of male lizards <Emphasis Type="Italic">Psammodromus algirus</Emphasis> may reveal their parasite load and health state to females

Evidence for parasite-mediated sexual selection has been found in many species that use visual ornaments to attract females. However, in many animals, variation in female responses to scents of parasitized males suggests that parasitic infections might also affect information conveyed by pheromones (i.e., chemical ornaments). Thus, pheromones might also function in parasite-mediated sexual selection. We show here that female lizards Psammodromus algirus responded differently to femoral gland secretions of males according to the parasite load and health of these males. Scents of healthier males elicited more tongue flicks (a chemosensory behavior) by females, suggesting that these scents were more attractive. Chemical analyses showed that parasite load and the T-cell-mediated immune response were related to the variability in the proportions of some lipids in secretions of males. Further trials testing the chemosensory responses of females to chemical standards indicated that females actually discriminated the chemicals related to males’ health from other chemicals found in secretions. We suggest that these chemical ornaments may provide reliable information on the health and degree of parasitic infection of a male.     

Causasilty among wildfire,ENSO, timber harvest,and urban sprawl: The vector autoregression approach

This article demonstrates the applicability of vector autoregression (VAR) modeling in probing the causality relationships among wildfire, El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), timber harvest, and urban sprawl in the U.S. The VAR approach allows for the multi-directional, multi-faceted interactions among the variables concerned and enables us to portray the temporal impacts of ENSO, the volume of timber harvested, and urban sprawl on wildfire. The empirical analysis, though intended mainly for illustration, reveals that an individual factor may not affect wildfire activity (number of fires and area burned) when acting alone, but can significantly influence fire activity when coupled with other factors, and that wildfire activity has feedback effects on other variables. The impact of a change in ENSO, the volume of timber harvested, and urban population density on wildfire activity could last two decades with the most noticeable impact occurring in the initial 5–10 years. Though ENSO, timber harvest, and urban sprawl all Granger-cause wildfire activity, the impulse response functions show that wildfire activity is more responsive to urban population density than to the volume of timber harvested or ENSO. Thus, controlling urban sprawl represents another option for wildfire mitigation; and integrative wildfire management is essential.     

Differential responses of honeybee (<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">Apis mellifera</Emphasis>) patrilines to changes in stimuli for the generalist tasks of nursing and foraging

Which task a social insect worker engages in is influenced by the worker’s age, genotype and the colony’s needs. In the honeybee, Apis mellifera, genotype influences both the age a worker switches tasks and its propensity of engaging in specialist tasks, such as water collecting, which only some workers will perform. In this study, we used colonies with natural levels of genetic diversity and manipulated colony age demography to drastically increase the stimuli for the generalist tasks of foraging and nursing, which all workers are thought to engage in at some point in their lives. We examined the representation of worker patrilines engaged in nursing and foraging before and after the perturbation. The representation of patrilines among foragers and nurses differed from that of their overall colony’s population. In the case of foraging, over- and underrepresentation of some patrilines was not simply due to differences in rates of development among patrilines. We show that replacement foragers tend to be drawn from patrilines that were overrepresented among foragers before the perturbation, suggesting that there is a genetic component to the tendency to engage in foraging. In contrast, the representation of patrilines in replacement nurses differed from that in the unperturbed nursing population. Our results show that there is a genetic influence on even the generalist tasks of foraging and nursing, and that the way patrilines in genetically diverse colonies respond to increases in task stimuli depends upon the task. The possible significance of this genetic influence on task allocation is discussed. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at doi: and is accessible to authorized users.     

红豆杉细胞抗病反应的诱导及其与紫杉醇合成的关系

采用从红豆杉植株不同部位（叶、内皮、根等）分离筛选获得的各种真菌制备的激发子，对6种不同红豆杉细胞株进行诱导作用研究。结果表明，不同细胞对不同真菌制备的激发子的抗病反应有显著的区别，并建立3种-具菌互作模式：极不相容（细胞抗性强，受损小），不相容（抗性强，受损也较严重），相容（细胞抗性小，受损严重）。结果还表明，极不相容和不相容互作模式中细胞的紫杉醇产量显著高于CK，而相容互作模式的细胞不合有紫杉, 同一真菌由不同的方法制备成的不同分子量大小或不同成分的激发子，对细胞的抗病反应与紫杉醇合成的影响不同,这些结果为诱导作用机理及调控红豆杉细胞合成紫杉醇的研究具有指导意义。     

Lifting technique and abdominal belt usage: a biomechanical, physiological and subjective investigation

Some 10 male subjects carried out a repetitive lifting task for 15 min under four conditions on separate days. Subjects used either a squat lifting or a stoop lifting technique with or without an abdominal belt on each day. Measurements of spinal shrinkage, heart rate, perceived exertion and regional body pain were made under each condition. Although there was a significant difference in spinal shrinkage under all lifting conditions compared with shrinkage during 15 min of quiet standing (4.36 ± 2.24 vs. 1.13 ± 1.18 mm), there were no significant differences in shrinkage between the conditions. The subjects' heart rates were higher during the squat lift than the stoop lift (123 vs. 97 beats/min; p < 0.001). While the squat lift was perceived to be the safest lift by 90% of the subjects, 60% regarded this lift as the least preferred method (with or without the belt). Although all 10 subjects perceived the safest lifting method to involve the use of the belt, 50% rated the belt as their least preferred lifting condition. The findings cast doubt on the efficacy and acceptability of both abdominal belts and the practice of training workers in ‘safe’ lifting techniques and indicate that individual characteristics and preferences need to be considered when attempting to improve the safety of manual handling operations in industry.     

氯气压力自动检测调节新技术在氯气系统的应用

氯碱生产中,氯气系统压力不易控制,容易发生泄漏爆炸事故。为解决这一难题,保证安全生产,金川公司化工厂于１９９６年设计并安装了一套氯气压力自动检测调节系统,经过两年的实际使用,达到了稳定氯气系统压力的良好效果。     

煤矿自燃火灾治理关键技术的研究与应用

介绍了使用同位素测氡法探测煤矿自燃火源位置的原理及应用效果。实践证明,该方法是解决煤矿自燃火灾治理难题的关键技术,由于投资少,精度高,软件处理直观可靠,它有重要推广价值     

雷管空中爆炸压力分布的理论计算

在对８＃ 雷管装药进行简化处理的基础上,其空中爆炸一定范围内的压力场分布可通过理论计算求得。近场参数可用自相似方法求解,而非近场参数又可用ＭａｃＣｏｒｍ ａｃｋ 两步格式对偏微分方程进行数值求解。将获得的压力场与实测结果进行比较,两者基本一致     

环境中一氧化碳监测技术现状

通过对一氧化碳危害性的论述,说明了环境中对一氧化碳浓度进行监测的必要性。对基于一氧化碳的理化性质进行的几种检测技术及在此基础上开发的监测仪器,设备进行了分析、比较,阐述了一氧化碳监测技术的现状。     

化学纤维栅湿式过滤除尘的实验研究

化学纤维栅湿式除尘是一种复合机理的新型湿式过滤除尘技术,其过滤风速为2～10m/s,阻力仅为200～500Pa,除尘效率达到99.62％,能很好解决矿山溜井卸矿产生的粉尘,使溜井含尘气流经净化后达到新鲜风流卫生标准。